If you play on someone's fears, weaknesses, or faults, you deliberately use them in order to persuade that person to do something, or to achieve what you want.
...an election campaign which plays on the population's fear of change. [VERBPARTICLE noun]
I felt guilty saying that, playing on her generosity. [VERBPARTICLE noun]
See full dictionary entry for play
play on in British English
verb(intransitive)
1. (adverb)
to continue to play
2. Also: play upon(preposition)
to exploit or impose upon (the feelings or weakness of another) to one's own advantage
3. (adverb) cricket
to hit the ball into one's own wicket
Examples of 'play on' in a sentence
play on
We explained that we were compiling a list of records for Owen to play on Tuesday morning.
David Cavanagh MUSIC FOR BOYS (2003)
Which was a blow because I had been planning to play on my bike with Douglas Wilson from down the road.
Edward Docx THE CALLIGRAPHER (2003)
Chinese translation of 'play on'
play on
vt fus
[sb's feelings, fears]利用 (lìyòng)
to play on sb's mind萦(縈)绕(繞)某人的心头(頭) (yíngrào mǒurén de xīntóu)
See play
Nearby words of
play on
play back
play down
play off against
play on
play up
player
playful
All related terms of 'play on'
a play on words
双(雙)关(關)语(語) shuāngguānyǔ
to play on sb's mind
萦(縈)绕(繞)某人的心头(頭) yíngrào mǒurén de xīntóu
to play a joke on sb
开(開)某人的玩笑 kāi mǒurén de wánxiào
to play a trick on sb
对(對)某人耍花招 duì mǒurén shuǎ huāzhāo
to play havoc with or wreak havoc on sth
扰(擾)乱(亂)某事 rǎoluàn mǒushì
play up
( machine, part of body ) 出毛病 chū máobìng
play off against
挑拨(撥)离(離)间(間) tiǎobō líjiàn
play down
减(減)低 jiǎndī
play back
( recording, message, video ) 回放 huífàng
play at
▶ to play at (doing/being) sth ( do half-heartedly ) 敷衍地做某事 fūyǎn de zuò mǒushì ; ( as game ) 扮成某事 bànchéng mǒushì ⇒ They played at (being) soldiers. → 他们扮成士兵。 Tāmen bànchéng shìbīng.